About this Research Topic

Background

The advancement of combinatorial chemistry and high-throughput screening for drug discovery has resulted in disappointing returns, causing a tendency to turn "back to nature". This creates a promising opportunity for further integration of ethnomedicine into modern health systems. As a major branch of traditional Chinese medicine, Zhuang medicine is derived from the constant struggle by the Zhuang against natural disasters, while the resources of Zhuang medicines are widely distributed throughout the Lingnan region and a large part of the Indo-China Peninsula. There is documented evidence that more than 500 plant species used in Zhuang medicine are commonly utilized to treat a range of ailments. Many of those are still in use today with remarkable clinical effects. Until now, approximately 50 Zhuang pharmaceutical products have passed clinical trials and been approved to treat certain diseases, and some have gained regulatory and marketing approval. Based on the abundant natural resources and unique indigenous knowledge, the research and development of pharmaceutical products can fully benefit from the treasure trove of Zhuang medicines.

Significant efforts have been made to document, preserve, and promote traditional Zhuang medical knowledge with unique regional characteristics. Consequently, Zhuang nationality medicine theory has been evolving rapidly in the last decades, especially with the integration of traditional medicine and modern medicine. In addition, these ethnic medicines have been applied to the prevention and treatment of multiple diseases such as viral hepatitis, rheumatoid arthritis, hyperlipidemia, peptic ulcers, and cancers. Despite this, Zhuang medicines face some challenges today. Efforts are still needed to elucidate the entire mechanisms of therapeutic actions of Zhuang medicines. This is critical for the discovery of effective drug candidates from indigenous herbal medicine, as well as their clinical significance and presentation. Meanwhile, the medicinal preparations of Zhuang medicines are complex mixtures of plant-derived bioactive compounds, which may need more investment in research to get interpreted by modern science. Indeed, the theories proposed by Zhuang medicine healers have yet to be perfected. Last but not least, a persistent problem limiting the wider clinical adoption of Zhuang medicine has been the quality standards for medicinal medicines. There is an urgent need to establish general quality standards and quality management systems for Zhuang medicines production.

This Research Topic aims to address the questions arising from the development and use of Zhuang medicines. Authors are encouraged to submit original research articles, case studies, expert reviews, and short communications associated with this Research Topic. We expect submissions related to the following topics, but not limited to:

1. Evaluation of traditional healing practices.

2. Identifying the pharmacological activities and mechanisms of action of Zhuang medicines, along with the interaction among constituents.

3. Process of drug discovery and development including basic, preclinical, and clinical research.

4. Emerging pharmaceutical technologies to increase the bioavailability of Zhuang medicines.

5. Method development, quality control, and standardization of Zhuang medicinal preparations.

6. Preservation and protection of indigenous medicine knowledge.

7. Research on the cultural context, medical theory, and current sociocultural importance of Zhuang medicines.

8. The latest challenges and trends in the field of Zhuang medicines are applied to research, clinical practice, and commercial production.



Please note:

1. Clinical Trial articles will be accepted for review only if they are randomized, double-blinded, and placebo controlled. Statistical power analysis or a justification of the sample size is mandatory.


2. All the manuscripts submitted to this project will be peer-reviewed, use a ‘VALID’ approach (https://www.frontiersin.org/about/peer-review), and need to fully comply with the Four Pillars of Best Practice in Ethnopharmacology (you can freely download the full version here: https://www.frontiersin.org/files/pdf/4_pillars_FULL_TEXT.pdf). Importantly, please ascertain that the ethnopharmacological context is clearly described (pillar 3d) and that the material investigated is characterized in detail (pillars 2 a / b and Front. Pharmacol. 13:953205. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2022.953205).

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Clinical Trial
• Data Report
• Editorial
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Clinical Trial
• Data Report
• Editorial
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Traditional Medicines; Indigenous Medicine; Pharmacological Properties; Clinical Application;Quality Control;Indigenous Knowledge; Commercial Production

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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